1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recorder capable of simultaneously recording a plurality of broadcast programs by timer-recording, and an apparatus and a method for managing schedules of the timer-recording.
2. Description of the Related Art
More and more equipments, which record broadcast programs, such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) recorder or an HD (Hard Disk) recorder, come to implement a plurality of recording resources (a tuner, an encoder, a transcoder, and the like) to simultaneously record a plurality of broadcast programs whose time slots overlap each other. (See, JP-A-2007-13713 and JP-A-2006-324776.) After proliferation of home networks, it is expected that recording devices prevail, which enable sophisticated cooperative processing, such as shared recording of different programs preventing duplicated recording by exchanging schedule information among a plurality of recording devices or recording operation performed in functional cooperation with a plurality of external tuners or external HDDs (Hard Disk Drives).
In the case of a current DVD/HD recorder capable of simultaneously recording a plurality of programs, users must select and allocate a recording resource to be used for his/her timer-recording schedule, which poses heavy burden on the user. Further, allocation of resources is fixed in a scheduled sequence, and re-allocation of a resource is not performed in connection with a schedule whose allocation has once been determined. Therefore, a rate of successful allocation is deteriorated. Moreover, even when a change has arisen in circumstances for reasons of cancellation of the schedule made by the user or a change in the time slot of the program, re-allocation of the resource cannot be performed in connection with the registered schedule. Some DVD/HD recorders are equipped with the function of automatically scheduling recording of a program matching a keyword designated by the user. However, even in relation to automatic scheduling, available recording resources are allocated in a predetermined sequence, such as the order of a starting time of a program, as in the case of user's scheduling operation. Again, the rate of successful allocation is poor.
With regard to models whose recording resources exhibit an equivalent property, there are products which provide an automatic allocation function. However, a schedule which becomes an object of re-allocation is limited to only a schedule which conflicts directly with a new schedule. With regard to models whose recording resources are not equivalent (e.g., an analogue resource, a digital resource, and the like), products which provide an automatic allocation function are nowhere to find as of now.
In relation to sharing of recording operations among a plurality of devices in the home network, the user directly selects, from available resources, which recording device allocated to which schedule, and an automatic allocation function has not yet been realized.